Microsoft SharePoint Branding &

Customization~

Colombo .NET User Group (CDNUG)

Chandana N. Athauda,chandana@yeschandana.com

http://www.yeschandana.com

~ Agenda ~• List of upcoming Sessions

• What is SharePoint Branding?

• Why Brand?

• Real world examples

• Architecture of SharePoint Branding

• Tools for Branding

• SharePoint Branding Options

• OOB Customization

• Developer Focused Customization

• Resources / Links

~ Upcoming Sessions ~

• SharePoint Concepts: Web Content Management

• Before You Start - Requirements Gathering

• Getting to Know SharePoint Designer

• SharePoint – Master Pages

• SharePoint – CSS

• SharePoint – Page Layouts

• SharePoint – Role-based site Templates

• SharePoint – Site Definitions

• Applying What You Have Learned

There will be 5 Sessions with following topics.

~ What is SharePoint Branding? ~

Branding is how you apply an Organization's

identity to an existing software application through

customization of a (SharePoint) portal site.

• Logos• Fonts• Color Schemes• Graphical Treatment• Traits or Characteristics• SharePoint provides a

Web 2.0, multi-dimensional, dynamic brand experience

~ Why Brand? ~

• To establish corporate identity and ownership.

• To reinforce enterprise standards.

• For ease of use.

• To create a sense of place.

* Any customization that goes beyond modifying the look and feel of the portal site is not

considered branding.

~ Typical Roles and Responsibilities in a SP project ~

• Marketing• Ideas• Branding guidelines

• Designer• Design Concepts• Implementation of HTML,

Graphics and CSS

• Developer• Custom web part development

• Admin• Content approver• Set up for roles

• Content Contributor• Updates to content

• IT• Environment setup• Security

~ Real World Examples ~

SharePoint is a Microsoft Product. So, How

far can we reach with SharePoint

Customizations?

Hawaiian Airlines - http://www.hawaiianair.com/

MIGROS - http://www.migros.ch

Hed Kandi - http://beta.hedkandi.com

MSW – Microsoft for Web

Glu Mobile - http://www.glu.com

~ Microsoft SharePoint Platform ~

~ Microsoft SharePoint Platform ~

• Intranets and Extranets focus on content and functionality and might have different branding requirements

• Websites have a much larger focus on user experience

~ How Branding plug in to the SharePoint Platform ~

Enterprise Content

Management[ECM]

Document Manageme

nt

Web Content

Management

[WCM]

Records Manageme

nt

Forms Manageme

nt

Authoring BrandingBranding

Publishing

~ Web Content Management ~

• Author and publish content quickly and easily. Business

groups can author and publish Web content in a timely manner with

easy-to-use authoring tools and integrated workflows with minimal IT

involvement.

• Maintain a consistent look and feel throughout your Web

sites. Maintain consistency by providing approved master pages

and page layouts that enable branding and navigation of the site to

be specified once and reused by content authors.

• Lower deployment and management costs your Web sites.

Implement a single multi-tier infrastructure for publishing content to

intranet, extranet, and Internet sites.

~ Tools for Branding ~• SharePoint Designer 2007

− Create/customize master pages, page templates, CSS− Create new / modify existing sites− Create SharePoint lists and libraries− Build workflows− No code solutions− More

• Visual Studio 2005 / 2008− Build server controls, custom controls, web parts− Develop pages with code behind− Complicated workflows− Custom providers− More

* Visual Studio 2010 will replace the much-derided SharePoint Designer, a descendant of MS FrontPage

~ SharePoint Branding Options ~

• Out Of the Box Customization (OOB)

• Developer Focused Customization

~ Out Of the Box Customization ~

~Out Of the Box customization means “No Code Required” ~

• Adding Web Parts and moving them from Zone to Zone

• Update Logo, Title, etc…

• Changing properties of Web Parts

• Adding Meta Data Columns to list or site

• Creating filtered Views

• Applying site Themes

• Creating Sites, Web Part Pages

• Creating list or site templates

• Etc…

~ Out Of the Box Customization ~

Advantages:

• Faster time to market

• Lower development and maintenance costs

• High quality, tested code

• Persistent user interface

~ Developer focused Customization ~

~ Useful Links ~

• http://www.heathersolomon.com

• http://www.cleverworkarounds.com/

• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/

aa830818.aspx

• http://www.brandingsharepoint.com/

• http://designshare.wordpress.com/

• http://www.sharepointdesignerstepbystep.com/

• http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepointdesigner/

• http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointdesigner/

FX100487631033.aspx

Q & A

END